fitness

Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – The Health Benefits of Sauna Use

Welcome back and thanks again for taking time to pop over and check out this week’s Addicted to Fitness Show Notes.

As always, we truly appreciate all the likes, reviews and comments. Keep, them coming!

We start off with a quick training recap.

On the one side, Nick has been doing a lot of sandbag of training lately. The system he’s becoming versed in is ultimate sandbag training, also know as DVRT, which is what they use at Tampa Strength  (they even have a 100 lb sandbag). Nick also mentioned that Tampa Strength will be launching their group mobility class February 6th, which you can read more about in this blog post on their website for more details on the class and the importance of mobility.

Then there’s me, who’s really only been able to add a couple of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts back into my routine. Workouts have been brief (only about 12-minutes each) when Ella is napping, but at least it’s something!

Now, let’s heat things up a bit as we get to the main topic of discussion. Let’s talk about the health benefits of saunas.

Saunas have been used around the world for an extremely long time for relaxation and a range of health benefits. There has been a good deal of quality scientific research on the health benefits, most of which is from Finland, where they are utilized regularly by citizens.

A sauna is a small room or building used for keeping heat (steam or dry) in it. The types of saunas:

  • Finnish sauna
  • Electrically heated sauna
  • Smoke sauna
  • Steam sauna/room
  • Infrared sauna

A quick search for at-home saunas led to us to find a range from $1000-$1500, and even some cheaper, DIY versions (picture below).

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Courtesy of homedepot.com

Some quick stats:

  • A  2015 study stated that using a sauna multiple times a week can actually significantly improve longevity by reducing all-cause mortality by up to 40%.
  • Another study suggests that sauna use can help improve athletic performance, muscle gain and proper regulation of hormones
  • Dr. Mercola describes the positive effect on chronic brain-related conditions regular sauna use can have in a number of studies in his article.

Saunas have been touted for their health benefits since ancient times and now the science is actually backing up those claims. Some people still see them as more of a relaxation/luxury than an actual health boosting practice, but there is clear evidence they should be used for the latter!

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If you are a regular sauna user, please let us know on the Addicted to Fitness Podcast Facebook page. As previously mentioned we appreciate all the feedback you’ve been giving us as of late and we’ll make sure you read your comments on a future ATF episode.

We also encourage you to give us a rating and review in iTunes. May not seem like a big deal but it’s a quick, easy task that can really help us reach more people.

As a little show of a gratitude for your listenership, use the promo code “ATF” at our sponsor’s website, hempcoffeeexchange.com, and get 20% off their delicious sustainable super coffee.

Links to this week’s episode

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-health-benefits-of-sauna-use/id1121420986?i=1000401490276&mt=2

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nick-burch-702220833/the-health-benefits-of-sauna

Website: http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/the-health-benefits-of-sauna-use

Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – An Interview with the Founder of the Corporate Warrior Podcast & Blog Lawrence Neal

We are super excited to be bringing you this week’s of Addicted to Fitness mainly because it features an interview with author, podcaster and blogger Lawrence Neal. Lawrence reached out to us via email and after I did my research, I knew I wanted him on the podcast.

Lawrence has been producing the Corporate Warrior podcast & blog since 2014 and has spoken to a laundry list of luminaries from the world of health and fitness, many of which we frequently mention on ATF.

During our interview, Lawrence shared that his approach to fitness was altered after watching a specific video from Dr. Doug McGuff in 2012. This video inspired him to read Dr. McGuff’s book, Body by Science, and reach out to the doctor to request an interview.

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This request turned into the first episode of the Corporate Warrior podcast and has now lead to him recording over 100 episodes. Lawrence mentioned that his interviews with Dr. McGuff are some of his favorites and ones he’d recommend to ATF listeners. He also mentioned that his interview with board-certified family medicine physician and “Diet and Exercise 2.0” creator Dr. Ted Naiman was a great one to listen to.

Lawrence and I also discussed the ebook he wrote on fat loss. His experience & research has shown him that diets higher in quality protein and lower in processed carbohydrates have the most potential to provide individuals with a sustainable way to lose weight. The ebook also provides information on Lawrence’s perferred form of strength training.

Lawrence is a big proponent of High Intensity Training (HIT). There are different variations of HIT, but Lawrence explains that it generally consists of performing a single set of an exercise, for every muscle group, to muscular failure in a single workout. The goal of HIT is to find the minimal effective dose needed to stimulate the most physiological benefits. This allows the user to optimize his or her time in and out of the gym.

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These are just a few of the topics Lawrence and I discussed on this week’s episode. I encourage you to listen to the entire episode and check out all of Lawrence’s content at corporatewarrior.org. You can also subscribe to his podcast by searching for “Corporate Warrior” in the same app you use to listen to Addicted to Fitness.

If you use Apple Podcasts in iTunes to listen to your podcasts, please give Addicted to Fitness and rating & review. It only takes a few minutes but can help us spread the good word of fitness to a broader audience.

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We’d also love for you to like & follow the Addicted to Fitness Podcast Facebook page. We have exclusive content up there including an upcoming Facebook Live plank challenge. You can also post topic suggestions for future episodes of the podcast.

Last but not least, please visit our sponsor’s website, hempcoffeeexchange.com, and when you buy some of their sustainable super coffee, use the code “ATF” at checkout to get 20% off.

Links to this week’s episode

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/addicted-to-fitness-podcast/id1121420986?mt=2&i=1000400947934

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nick-burch-702220833/an-interview-with-the-1

Website: http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/an-interview-with-corporate-warrior-podcast-blog-founder-lawrence-neal

 

Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – A Review of the Health & Fitness Products Debuted at CES 2018

Good day, our awesome listeners!

We’re back with a slightly different twist on fitness-related info for you today, but first, let’s talk training recaps.

I’ll go first (ladies first, right?).

Well, I did it. I quite literally got back on the bike – our Peloton cycle that is. I took some new workout clothes from *Fabletics for a spin in fact! After being a member of the clothing retailer for a while, I can enthusiastically endorse them, especially when you opt to become a member, which gets you some seriously sweet deals off the apparel line.

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*Referal Links Used

Nick, meanwhile, has been busy applying the learnings he received at a recent TRX training course. He’s been adding the suspension training exercises into workouts and he’s been so happy with what he’s learned, he wanted to share some tips with those who are interested.

So for those looking to add TRX training to their repertoire, here are six items to AVOID when using the suspension trainer from TRX:

  1. Starting wrong
  2. Stopping your set
  3. Sagging your body
  4. Slacking of the bands
  5. Sawing the bands back and forth
  6. Scrapping the bands against your body

Be sure any trainer who you’re looking to work with, knows these basics. Better yet, check out Tampa Strength YouTube channel for TRX exercise video demonstrations to learn the moves yourself.

Now, we embrace our inner gadget-loving geek (or at least I do) to talk about the latest health and fitness technology to come out of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

I knew about this tradeshow from years back when I used to work the event for clients, but it’s since become a hugely attended event for general consumers. Much of the tech they display at CES is what you’ll see appearing in stores this year!

This year, health/wellness and fitness technology made a big statement.

We broke down our top picks (from the more than 3,900 exhibiting companies) of products into four categories:

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(Image Source)

  • Sleep:
    • Philips Smart Sleep – 1st wearable solution to not only monitor, but improve deep sleep quality
    • 360 Smart Bed – bed that tracks sleep and adjusts to maximize your sleep
  • Health monitor:

Check out the Addicted to Fitness Podcast Facebook page & give us a rating and review in iTunes – it’s a quick, easy task that can really help us reach more people.

Links to this week’s episode:

iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/a-review-of-the-health-fitness-products-debuted-at-ces-2018/id1121420986?i=1000400409706&mt=2

Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/nick-burch-702220833/a-review-of-the-health-fitness

Website – http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/a-review-of-the-health-fitness-products-debuted-at-ces-2018

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Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – Predictions on the Biggest Health Trends of 2018

Happy New Year!

We’re sharing our predictions on some of the big health trends for 2018 in this week’s episode.

Before we get into our best guesses at some of the hot buzzwords you’ll be hearing more about, we want to remind you to head over to our podcast Facebook page for some exclusive content. SPOILER ALERT! We posted a Facebook Live taste test of the junk food flavored ONE bars.

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In sharing our training recaps, Shannon reveals that she is still searching for an opportunity to get back into her yoga home studio, Bella Prana. In the meantime, some walks with Ella, and occasionally our spastic dog Jaz, along the Tampa Riverwalk has been a sufficient way to get some activity in there. Fingers crossed she’ll squeeze a ride on the Peleton in before the week is out.

I, on the other hand, was working training clients, which I’ve only really stopped doing on Christmas Day. With some clients still on holiday, it’s been a lighter training week, but new prospective clients are setting up their intro workouts. Hopefully, in the next week, we’ll be adding a few new members to the ETT community.

I also bought myself an early birthday gift and registered for a TRX certification course. TRX is a brand that focuses on suspension training, which uses only bodyweight & gravity as resistance. I’ve introduced every client to TRX and they have loved it because it is low impact, but super challenging, making it good for clients of any fitness level. Needless to say, I’m super stoked to be going to this course.

Let’s get into the 2018 health trend predictions:

  1. Resurgence of Dietary Fat – Low fat and Fat-free diets and products are starting to be seen as a hindrance to proper nutrition. Even recent USDA Dietary Guidelines removed their dietary cholesterol limitations.
  2. Sleep Optimization – Research comes out regularly about the importance of sleep and how the lack of sleep can lead to weight gain, anxiety and a weaker immune system. The entire industry around sleep optimization has become far more prevalent (pillows, mattress, etc). Shannon referred to how many aspects of our culture (technology, stress and pace) is turning us all into “sleep zombies.” Nick dropped a statistic from Chris Kresser’s podcast around 100 million Americans having pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes.
  3. Mindfulness – Living in the moment and being aware of your environment sounds easier than it actually is. However, it’s a rare habit in our country. Teaching children mindfulness is becoming particularly popular as research and organizations are emerging to prove how helpful it can be highly beneficial.  Shannon’s yoga training included a lot of mindfulness training, but both she and I have been working to improve our mindfulness through activities like meditation.
  4. Self-Care – Truly taking and making time for your own development and care (e.g. sitting & reading a book, going for a walk in the woods) and focusing on yourself, is so important. This is especially true for caregivers. People deplete their energy and then sadly think something like a week-long vacation is going to fix it. The reality is that the “vacation method” is similar to cramming for a test the night before – it’s going to fail. Shannon’s go-to self-care practice is yoga or the basic physical activities for early morning  (ritualistic morning practices).

Honorable mention trends – gut health (past ATF episode link) & boutique fitness

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Thanks for listening – Please rate, review and share – Like & follow the Addicted to Fitness Podcast Facebook page

Links to this week’s episode:

iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/predictions-on-the-biggest-health-trends-of-2018/id1121420986?i=1000398835381&mt=2

Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/nick-burch-702220833/predictions-on-the-biggest

Website – http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/predictions-on-the-biggest-health-trends-of-2018

Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – Zero Calorie Beverage Taste Test

Nick and I start this week’s podcast off with a couple announcements that are likely familiar to any of our regular listeners.

First off, Nick is still offering a complimentary fitness evaluation and all you have to do is email him at elementaltampa@gmail.com.

If you enjoy our podcast and want to show some love, we have a great opportunity for you! Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay 2017 is open for voting until August 23rd and Addicted to Fitness is a finalist for Best Local Podcast (under the People, Places & Politics category).

In terms of our training recap for the week, Nick and I talk about a pair of group fitness classes that we were both involved in over the last week. I did my very first assisting class, which is part of the requirements for my yoga teacher training, by jumping in to help a group of 50 people of different experience levels. It was actually a terrific experience and once I got past the initial nerves, I really enjoyed helping people find proper alignment and offering some hands on adjustments to those who wanted it.

Nick on the other hand actually got thrown into leading a section of a kickboxing class at Title Boxing in Tampa, where he’s been looking into the possibility of teaching classes. Minus being completely new to the Britney-Spears-headset, he admitted that he got right into the 30-min drills on the kickboxing bags that he led. Stay tuned for whether he’ll be debuting his training skills at Title Boxing in future!

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For this week’s episode, Nick had told me that he really wanted to do a taste test, which was just fine with me! We took on a taste test of zero calorie “naturally” sweetened beverages.

You’ll have to listen for the full initial reactions and reviews on each of the three drinks we tried, but here’s a quick recap:

  • Perrier with Lime – Classic mineral water with loads of bubbles and a clean, refreshing lime flavor. We both agreed it was a win, with its natural flavors, if you like bubbles. I even suggested it might make a good mixer for the bar!
  • Zevia – The Mountain flavor was sweetened with stevia and smelled a lot like Sprite. The taste, however, was all stevia. Neither Nick or I could really get past the “blanket mouth” aftertaste that it left behind.
  • Steaz – A half-and-half green tea, lemonade combo that mentioned its zero calorie benefit three times on the front of the can (clearly they wanted to get the point across). Not nearly as bubbly as the other two, this beverage was a hit for both Nick and I. The major sweetener was erythritol, which we’d explored in a previous podcast (check out Episode 29 – the interview with CEO of Swerve, Andress Blackwell).

There are loads of other zero calorie drinks on the market, but these were just a few that we thought would be good to review. Please let us know if you’re a fan of a particular beverage in this category so we can give it a try.

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Also, we called it out early on in this week’s episode but always end with an invitation to share your feedback and ideas for future podcast episodes with us. Message us on social media (Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) or email. We’d love to hear from you!

Until next week’s episode, have a great one!

Links for this week’s episode

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/zero-calorie-beverage-taste-test/id1121420986?i=1000390742956&mt=2

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nick-burch-702220833/zero-calorie-beverage-taste

Website: http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/zero-calorie-beverage-taste-test

Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – Our Favorite Smartphone Fitness Apps

Written by Shannon, aka Cassandra. 

Sometimes you simply can’t avoid getting sick. This week I caught a cold which resulted in a husky alter-ego that Nick named “Cassandra.” So don’t mind the raspy co-host for today’s episode.

Ironically, we’re talking about health & fitness apps today! Specifically, Nick and I share our favorite apps that we use every day, then we go through apps from listeners and friends who submitted their picks.

Following up on our previous episode where I reviewed the Fitbit Charge 2, I dive into the user-friendly mobile app that serves as the real power behind any Fitbit. This free app is where you setup your actual Fitbit device, establish your goals, and even where you can track a few other handy health and fitness items.

The Fitbit app includes a very easy user interface, with a main screen that highlights some of your main daily metrics like: steps, floors climbed, miles covered, calories burned, activity and water consumed. You can also get info on your resting heart rate, calories consumed, sleep, etc.

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Picture courtesy of fitbit.com

The best part is the integration with other apps, including Nick’s food log app that he breaks down further, and the peloton app, which sends workout info from the bike to your Fitbit app.

Nick provides a review of the Lose it! app, which is a food journal. While neither of us are big on counting calories, we do like holding ourselves accountable and it’s easy to lose track of what you’re eating. This app is a great way to ensure you’re truly seeing how much macronutrients you’re taking in each day, your calories consumed and your calories burned.

The food catalog for Lose It! is truly impressive with millions of food items, ingredients and meals alike, already logged into the database. You can even scan barcodes with a built-in barcode scanner to make it easy to identify specific food items.

Snap it!, which is an extension of the Lose It app, even gives the option of identifying food by snapping a picture, which it then tries to match up to corresponding nutrition information. It’s just not incredibly accurate, so it’s more effective for simple items (e.g. piece of fruit, protein bar, etc.).

There is a premium version of the app, but the free version offers great options and even integrates with other fitness apps to provide information like steps and exercise.

Getting into the listener’s favorite fitness apps, we list them off for ya:

At the end of the day though, it doesn’t matter if you use fitness apps or not. Use whatever tools you need to hold yourself more accountable and help you to reach your fitness goals.

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We wrap up this episode getting amped up for the new Facebook Live workout that is now available on the ETT Facebook page. Perfect little 25-min workout video that includes a warmup, 15 min HIIT workout and an ab-centric cooldown.We’ve got exciting episodes coming up; please reach out at elementaltampa@gmail.com and let us know what topics you’d like us to discuss on a future episode. Thanks for listening!

Links for this week’s episode

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/our-favorite-smartphone-fitness/id1121420986?i=1000380559728&mt=2

Android: http://subscribeonandroid.com/addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/rss

Website: http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/our-favorite-smartphone-fitness-apps

Going Heavy

A heavy bag may be the most versatile piece of exercise equipment out there today. With the right routine you can increase cardio, tone muscle, improve on your striking technique and relieve some of that unwanted stress. I adapted the workout below from an old bodyrock routine I saw my fiancé do years ago. If you’re interested in trying this workout, the round by round breakdown is as follows:

  • Round 1: 6 Jab+Cross Combos (12 total punches) followed by 2 burpees (pushups optional)
  • Round 2: 6 Lead Hook+Power Hook combos followed by 2 burpees
  • Round 3: 3 Jab, Cross, Lead Hook, Power Hook Combos followed by 2 burpees
  • Round 4: Sit-ups with 2 Punches

I did timed rounds (40 seconds of work/20 seconds of rest) and repeated the format 3 times for a 12 minute workout. Modify the format of the workout to meet your fitness level and make sure to wrap those hands before going to work on the bag. If you do the workout, please let me know what you thought of it. I always appreciate feedback!

 

ETT Wrap Show Ep.1

Last week was an especially epic week for Elemental Training Tampa. We had 100% attendance by all our ETT personal training clients, added a new personal training client to the community, and hosted another successful group training session. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! We also recorded our first episode of the ETT Wrap Show. Learn more about the week that was in ETT and find out how this fitness community got its start. We love all types of feedback so please listen and leave us a comment.

https://soundcloud.com/nick-burch-702220833/ett-wrap-show-ep1